How Often Do You Clean?

Posted March 30, 2015 by Prairie Wife - 4 comments

The other day I made a purchase that got me pretty excited, and at the same time made me feel quite depressed. Not because I broke my budget rules, trust me this was a necessary purchase, but because I was SO excited about it.

Last week I was at my friend’s house, and through the course of our conversation she shared with me her favorite cleaning tool. It was a Hoover Linx Cordless vacuum and she had me sold within the first two minutes of talking about it. I rushed home and found it on Amazon.com and it arrived two days later. I was ecstatic and promptly charged the battery and began to refer to it as “My New Best Friend”…sorry CollegeBFF and TallGirlJ! It quickly and efficiently sucked up all the crumbs that had piled up under my table and the Cowkids were fighting over who got to use it. Not to mention it flawlessly goes from carpet to hardwood and tile, and even fits under my couches and in the tight spaces in the bathroom. My broom hasn’t been used since I bought the Linx, and TallGirlJ is now a proud owner as well (buy one right now I’m telling you).

As I used it for the third time this week I pondered that for the first time in years I was cleaning the floor more than once a week. Which then got me thinking about the slow decline of my cleaning routine over the past decade.

I use to sweep, mop and vacuum and bleach the bathrooms twice a week. A deep cleaning of tubs, showers, and dusting occurred every Thursday. When my third child Cowboy W was born I simply couldn’t keep up and I changed to my one day a week deep cleaning of the house top to bottom. Then when Cowboy C was born I went to sweep, mop, vacuum and bathrooms once a week with dusting and cleaning tubs and showers every other week. Then I became pregnant with LittleMissH and while I did fairly well at first, my cleaning deteriorated rapidly the last two months.

I was too tired and uncomfortable to even think about doing all that stuff I talked about before! So, I began to sweep and vacuum every week, and mopping moved to every other week…or when company came over. By company I mean people that will judge me for having a messy house. I don’t clean (or get dressed) for my good friends. I was still wiping down the bathrooms and cleaning the toilet every week…usually. I would at times go three weeks without cleaning the tubs and showers. I’m sure by now some of you are cringing. But I promise you they never even got near the gross point. Perhaps we don’t bathe enough, but that’s another post.

Now that LitleMissH is born I have stayed with the same routine as those last two months before she was born. First of all I don’t really have any more time or energy now that she’s out! Secondly, the new routine really works fine. I keep the kitchen clean by wiping down counters and doing dishes as necessary and toys are still picked up each week before The Cowboy comes home. I never saw him or any of our guests looking critically at the floor (and I WAS watching) when I only mopped every other week, why should I do it more often now?

I decided to ask our readers about their cleaning routine, I assumed that I would fall somewhere in the middle of the cleanliness spectrum. Turns out I’m at the bottom lol! Follow us on Facebook and check out the comments. I found it fascinating to read about everyone’s routine! I do have a sneaking suspicion that my fellow every other week moppers may have been nervous to tell the truth…but why?!

I didn’t feel bad when I read how much other women clean and vacuum (some as much as every day). I was simply in awe and sincerely puzzled at how you find time to do all that?! Those of you that don’t have a routine, well I admire you because I don’t think I could be that relaxed and zen about it. Though it would sure make the Cowkids happy if I was. I also loved the comments where people said it depends on who’s coming over…and who wants to know!

Frankly it was wonderful for me to know I’m in the place of my life where my house keeping skills are no longer something I feel that I will be judged on. After all I’m doing the best I can right now while still keeping my sanity, and we haven’t been sicker than usual since I slowed down on the cleaning. If I look at the floor and it starts to make me twitch, I have no problem cleaning it even if it’s not my cleaning day, but the pressure is off and it’s so freeing! With my “New Best Friend” I have a feeling this won’t even be an issue anymore. I’m happier not stressing about finding the time to get it all done. I can sit and snuggle LittleMissH or walk to the mailbox with the little boys without that nagging feeling that I need to be inside cleaning. My friends come over just as often as before and The Cowboy hasn’t docked my pay, so I think I’m just going to keep this new cleaning schedule up!

How often do you clean, and why?

Do you feel guilty about your routine?

I really want to hear from our readers that clean every day or even every other day…why? Does it come out of necessity like you have animals that shed or allergies? Or does it simply throw your day off to see a one inch pile of crumbs under the table?

Challange: Skip one day of your cleaning routine and let me know what happens!

4 thoughts on "How Often Do You Clean?"

Well I don’t clean near as much as you but also feel like I don’t need to. Pick up stuff every other day of so. Dishes as they are used. Bathrooms once a month maybe we don’t bathe as much as we should either lol. Laundry once or twice a week. Vacuum and sweep every two weeks or so. I would probably clean more often if it seemed like it was needed.